‘Sevens players can be Rio icons’
Sprint star Johnson says game can reach new heights
Rugby sevens players have “a fantastic opportunity” to become “icons” at next year’s Olympic Games and help the game reach unprecedented heights, according to the legendary former sprinter Michael Johnson.
The four-time Olympic gold medallist was in Dubai yesterday to celebrate sevens’ maiden inclusion in the 2016 extravaganza in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2009, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decreed that sevens and golf should be included in the Games, raising the number of sports from 26 to 28.
Johnson attended a press conference to unveil a HSBC Bank report which outlines the spectacular growth and stratospheric ambitions of rugby — the 15-man form of which was last played at the 1924 Games.
He and Jason Robinson, who
won the 2003 Rugby World Cup with England and who was also at yesterday’s media round-table, have elucidated the glorious opportunity afforded to sevens in the report entitled Breaking New
It claims the Olympics could have an even greater impact on rugby’s burgeoning development than this year’s World Cup.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for rugby as a sport and sevens as a series,” Johnson, the ex-200-metre and 400-metre sprinter who starred at the 1996 and 2000 Games, said.
“The Olympics has an incredible ability to create icons and people who can represent the best of the best.”
“The teams need to understand the difference between the Olympics and a normal sevens competition,” the 48-year-old, who also won eight World Championship gold medals, added. “It is often a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so preparation is everything. Mentally, knowing that there is no next year, creates a different type of pressure on the athletes.”
Olympics dream
Robinson, an HSBC ambassador and former dual rugby code international, was similarly exultant during the briefing at the Sofitel Hotel, Downtown Dubai.
“I must say, I am quite envious. In my 17-year professional career in two sports, I played for England, the British and Irish Lions, in three World Cups, but I never had the opportunity to play in the Olympics. What an opportunity to do something that nobody has done before and compete for a gold medal.”
“There’s so much excitement surrounding sevens this year,” added the 41-year-old, noting that 15-a-side luminaries such as New Zealand All Blacks’ double World Cup-winning centre Sonny Bill Williams and South African winger Bryan Habana had confirmed their desire to appear at Rio 2016. The HSBC report highlights the fact that the global participation of rugby has increased by more than 50 per cent in the past decade.
Its initial findings also reveal that the amount of women playing the game has surged from 200,000 to 1.7 million in just three years.
Also present yesterday was Brett Gosper, the Chief Executive Officer of World Rugby, who said the Olympics represented “rugby’s seminal moment” to build on its meteoric progress.
“This is a very, very big opportunity for rugby to go to the next level,” the Australian said. “Olympic inclusion allows the sport to find its way on to school curriculums around the world and allows more money to come into the sport through national Olympic committees and governments.”
The trio were speaking on the opening day of the first leg of the 10-round HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens.
“It’s crucial that World Rugby, unions and sponsors are committed to converting this opportunity,” Giles Morgan, Global Head of Sponsorship and Events at HSBC, said. “The gold medal for the sport will be to use Rio 2016 as a catalyst to drive even greater growth, participation and engagement in the game.”
Meanwhile, Gosper provided further evidence of the sport’s rude health in the form of “good” anti-doping results achieved at the recent Rugby World Cup.
“From 268 intelligent tests [based on intelligence] we carried out, we had no positive results. But we’re not complacent about that. “We had a 30 per cent increase in our anti-doping budget this year and we’re very keen to ensure the sport is a level-playing field.
“We have rigorous and extensive testing within the sevens programme across our tournaments, in and out of competition. I think we do about 2,000 tests ourselves in our own competitions, added to the national international doping agencies, which will do another 2,0003,000.”
This is a fantastic opportunity for rugby as a sport and sevens as a series... The Olympics has an incredible ability to create icons and people who can represent the best of the best.”
Michael Johnson | Former US sprint superstar